Thursday, January 26, 2012

Hannah Kennison, daughter of John Kennison

Last week I wrote about James A. Ferrel, whose parents were James and Hannah Kennison Ferrel.
I decided to renew my search to learn
more about Hannah Kennison. This has been a difficult search because Hannah
married James Ferrel in 1789, had four known children and then she died between 1795
and 1800. There are few records for women that early. I have worked on this off and on over the
years but have never found anything that was promising-just the names of John
Kennison and Abraham Kennison in Jefferson County Kentucky tax lists during
1789, which is when Hannah and James married, also in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

So with my renewed search I found a court record of John
Kinnison of Jefferson County Kentucky in April 1788, appointing his friend
Abraham Wells of Nelson
County as his attorney.

John and Abraham Kennison were listed in the 1789 tax list
for Jefferson County, Kentucky.

I searched for some census records and found the following:

1810 Jefferson County Kentucky
Census:

John Kinnerson1male under 101
female under 10

1
male 16-252 females 16-25

1
male over 451
female 26-44

1
female over 45

This is the earliest census reading that I have found in Jefferson County for the name Kennison (or close
versions to that).

While searching the Family Search website, I came across
Kentucky Marriages, 1785-1979.I
searched for Kennison in Jefferson
County and found the
following:

This was a huge find!The record gave Hannah’s father’s name!Her father was John Kennison! (Notice that James Ferrel’s name was
listed incorrectly-if I was only searching for James Ferrel I would never have
found this record!).My first assumption
was that Amelia and Nancy were sisters to Hannah, since their father is also
listed as John Kennison.But I need to
keep in mind that Hannah may have had a brother named John who could be the
father of some of the above named.For
now I have them listed as sisters of Hannah, but more proof is needed.

John Plaster (married to Amelia Kennison) is listed in the
1810 and the 1820 census’ of Jefferson
County, Kentucky.It appears that he had about four sons and
four daughters, based on those census readings.

Elijah and Nancy Kennison Cochran are listed in the 1850 Jefferson County, Kentucky
census:

1850 Jefferson
County, Kentucky
Census:

Elijah Cochran66VA

Nancy49KY

Nancy16KY

Rice15KY

Temperance Burk27KY

This census reading leads me to believe that Rice Cochran
may have been named after George Rice, who married Temperance Kennison in
1802.My guess is that the Temperance Burk
listed in the census reading is a daughter of Elijah and Nancy Kennison Cochran.This leads me to believe that Temperance
Kennison Rice was probably also a sister to Hannah Kennison.Temperance Rice is listed in the 1850
Jefferson County Kentucky census as age 63, born in Virginia, living alone.

Interestingly enough, I have also seen an undocumented
listing of a marriage of Amelia Kennison Rice marrying John Plaster.So there is the possibility that Amelia was
married to a Rice before she married John Plaster.

I have not been able to locate any records on the other Kennison's listed in the above marriages. That needs to be an on-going search.

I am quite happy to have learned what I have with this renewed search: Hannah Kennison's
father was John Kennison, and she had two possible sisters-Amelia and
Nancy.It also appears that Temperance
Kennison may have been a sister to Hannah.

Hannah Kennison married James Ferrel in Jefferson County, Kentucky
3 August 1789 and they had four known children:

1)Unknown
male Ferrel who married Sophia Reagan.They had one known child: John James Ferrel, born in 1822 in Indiana.

2)Samuel
Ferrel who married Eleanor Graham in 1824 in Vigo County, Indiana

3)Andrew
Ferrel who married Susannah Colyear in 1813 in Franklin County, Indiana.Andrew is listed in the 1820 and 1830 census’
for Vigo County, Indiana and appears that he had five
daughters

4)James
A. Ferrel, was born in 1795 in Lexington,
Kentucky.He married Martha Dickerson in 1814 in Butler County, Ohio.They eventually settled in Vigo County Indiana
and had thirteen known children. (these are my great-great-great-great
grandparents)

It appears that Hannah died between 1795 and 1800.It is not known where Hannah died.James Ferrel remarried in July of 1800.He married Rosanna Ray in Hamilton County, Ohio.
Hannah’s four children were all under
the age of ten when she died, so Rosanna immediately became a step-mother to
those four children.James and Rosanna went on to have seven more
children. The family was living in Vigo County Indiana by 1820.

I am fascinated by this family and will continue to look for
more information on the Kennison family.Hopefully, over time I will have some updates for this search!

3 comments:

Temperance Burk listed in the census reading is a daughter of Elijah and Nancy Kennison Cochran.Yes, Sue, Temperance Cochran Burk is my g-g-g-grandmother. I've been searching for our Cherokee roots. Have you found any Native Americans in your family tree? I thought I'd find it with the Kentucky side of my family. I live in Texas, born in Louisiana. Patty T.

Hi Patty! Thanks for commenting. It is very interesting to come across another Kennison researcher! I have not come across any Native Americans in my family, although my father thought that we had some. I assumed he meant in the Adamson line, but I have not found anything there. Maybe her meant the Ferrel line!!

Thanks for answering, Sue! My grandfather, William Berry Parker, told his kids that his grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee. Unfortunately, he died in 1947 so there's so much we don't know. His mother was a Dillard from South Carolina, her ancestors having come from Scotland in early 1700's. His grandfather was Benjamin Franklin Parker of Tennessee, who was married to the daughter of Temperance. I'll keep searching because I KNOW we have Native American roots on that side of my family---chiefly because of the physical attributes of some of my family. It's fascinating, isn't it to find who we are. Great talking to you!